Andrew campbell



A. CAMPBELL.

EXPANDING HOLDER 0R BLOCK FOR HAT'POUNOING MACHINES. No 355,575.Patented June 28, 1887;

F i \1: N N: 5 e x 5 5 l l EE 1 i a J WITNESSES By his .dttorney,

UNITED STATES PATENT OEFIcE.

ANDREW CAMPBELL, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, AQSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNEASSIGNMENTS, PLACE.

TO THE HAT MACHINE COMPANY, OF SAME EXPANDING HOLDER R BLOCK FORHAT-POUNCING MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 365,575, dated June 28,1887.

Application filed July 28, 1886. Serial No. 299,300. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ANDREW CAMPB ELL, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Brooklyn, Kings county, New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Expanding Holders or Blocks forHolding a Hat while it is being Pounced, of which'the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to a holder to hold the hat while it is beingpounced; and the inventi on consists in the construction of said holder,whereby it may be expanded and contracted so as to fit the body of thehat when the latter is placed on it, and to hold the hat firmly.

I 5 It is well known among those skilled in the art that hats bearingthe same size-numbers vary in size considerably and will not fit snuglyon the same holder, which they should do while being pounced. Attemptshave been made to expand a rubber bag within the hat by forcing air intosaid bag; but such a bag tends to expand into a spherical form anddistorts the hat.

The object is to make a holder of the external shape or contour of ahat-body, and to construct it so as to be capable of equal lateral orradlal expansion, so that when a hat is placed on it and the holderexpanded the block will be made to fit the hat snugly, and yet not 0distort the latter. I contemplate fixing the holder in some cases on arotating shaft, and allowing the centrifugal force generated by rotationto expand the block, the retraction or contraction being efiected bysprings.

3 5 My invention will be fully described hereinafter, and its novelfeatures carefully defined in the claims.

In the drawings which serve to illustrate my invention the holder isshown mounted 4 on a shaft which is supposed to be rotatively mountedand driven by suitable mechanism.

I Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the block or holder, taken onthe plane indicated by line 1 1 in Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a transversesection 4 5 taken in the plane indicated by line 2 2 in Fig.

1. Fig. 3 is a side elevation on a scale onehalf that of the otherviews.Fig. 4 is a frag- 1grientary perspective view of the core of the ock.

' but removably to the shaft.

.shell.

be polygonal, and has a bore through its axis to fit and receive shaftX. In its outer end is screwed a boss, a, through which passes a screw,1), which screws into the end of the shaft X, and thus serves to securethe core firmly In the face of the core A are formed a number ofgrooves, eight as herein shownwhich extend lengthwise of the core itsentire length and extend into the body of the core radially. There isalso a circumferential groove, a in the core. (Seen best in Fig. 4, butindicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1.) This core might be a solidcylinder, bored and grooved as described; but to lighten it I cast itwith-recesses, as seen at y 3 in Fig. 4c. 7

B B B &c., are eight segments, which,when put together, make up theshell or exterior portion of the expanding block. Each of these sectionsof the shell has an inwardly-projecting rib or flange, I) b b", &c.,which stand radial to the core A and are dressed off to fit accuratelyin the several longitudinal grooves a in the core. This arrangement isbest shown in Fig. 2. In each rib b b, 8m, is fixed a short pin, 0, theends of which project a little way from the faces of the rib and engageand fit the circumferential groove a in the core when the section of theshell is in place. These pins or studs should fit nicely in groove a astheir function is to prevent any endwise movement of the sections on thecore. Any other stop device that will prevent endwise movement of thesections, but allow free radial movement, may be employed.

G O 0 850., are wedges inserted in the grooves ain the core A. Theirstraight edges rest against the bottoms of the'grooves and theirinclined outer edges rest against the inner beveled or inclined edges ofthe ribs 1) b, 850., on the several sections B B, 850., of the It willbe obvious from inspection that if the wedges O G, 820., be all drivenin simultaneously, the shell of the block will be uniformly expanded bythe sections of the shell being all driven out uniformly by the wedges.As a means of operating the wedges simultaneously, I employ a sleeve, D,mounted loosely on the shaft X, and provided with a circumferentialgroove, (1, to receive tongues or projections c on the several wedges.

The sleeve D may be shifted to and fro on the shaft by an ordinaryforked lever made to engage a circumferential groove, f, in the sleeve.Such levers are in common use for shifting clutches, and I have notdeemed it necessary to show one here. \Vhen centrifugal force is reliedupon to expand the holder, the wedges maybe omitted; or, ifin theholder, they may be ignored in the operation of pounemg.

In order that the holder may contract automatically when the wedges arewithdrawn, I provide two elastic bands or rings, 9 and h, to hold thesections of the shell'in place. These may be endless spiral springs. Theband 9 passes through holes in the several ribs 1) b, and the band itengages hook-like projections on the said ribs. The band 5/ might alsoongage hooks on the ribs or shell-sections instead of being passedthrough holes in the same. This construction is indicated by dottedlines at z in Fig. 1. The dotted lines at z z in Fig. 1 indicate theform the shell-sections will have in a holder for hats with flat crowns.

On the screw Z) is formed a flange, b over which take the ends of theshell-sections that form the hat-crown. The ends of the sections abutagainst the head of the screw.

In order to prevent the wedges O C from being entirely withdrawn, Iprefer to provide two of themsay C and Ocach with a recess, z, in itsinner edge, and to fix a stud, j, in the core A at the bottom of thegroove c to engage said recess.. The endwise movement of the wedge isthus limited to the length of said recess.

The boss a is made separate from the core A merely for convenience inboring out and finishing the core. It might be integral therewith.

Vhen the holder is not rotatively mounted, or when the rotary velocityis not sufficient to generate the necessary centrifugal force to expandit, the operator slips a hat on the holder and forces in the wedgesuntil the holder is expanded to fit the hat snugly and hold it againstslipping; but it must be understood that my holder is only designed tohold a hat for pouncing, and is not for blocking and stretching a hat.Consequently it is essential that the holder shallnearly fit the hatbeforeit is expanded, and this requires a very slight expansion to makeit fit and hold the hat. Indeed, the expansion should never be so greatthat the interstices between the sections of the holder will exceed inwidth the thickness of the material of the hat, or it will be impossibleto properly pounce the entire surface. In pouncing, the shaft X, whichis rotatively mounted, has the proper rotary motion imparted to it bysuitable machinery, as stated. This machinery forms no part of mypresent invention.

I am well aware that blocks for blocking and stretching hats and notrotatively mounted have been made up in sections somewhat similar to myholder and provided with expanding wedges. Such a block is shown in thepatent of Eickemeyer,No. 141,338, dated July 29, 1873. This I do notclaim. Such blocks are designed for and employed for a purpose entirelydifferent from that of my holder. They stretch, shape, and form the hat.My holder is not for blocking, and expands only enough to fit tightly inthe previously-blocked hat and hold it while being revolved and pounced.I show my holder (see Fig. 2) as having in transverse section the ovalform of a hat body when finished; but when the pouneing is effected.before the final blocking of the hat, and when the hat-body has the formof a cylinder, the holder will of course have the same form.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. An expanding holderforahat,eonstructed. to fit into the previously-blocked hat and adaptedto hold the hat while being pounced by frictional contact with the innersurface of the same.

2. An expanding rotatively-mounted holder for a hat-,constructed to fitinto the previouslybloeked hat and adapted to hold the hat by outwardexpanding pressure against the same, whereby frictional contactisproduced.

3. An expandingrotativclymounted holder for a hat while the latter isbeing pounced, composed of a core and a shell made up ofradially-movable sections free to be thrown outward by centrifugalforce, substantially as set forth.

4. An expanding rotatively-mountcd holder for a hat while it is beingpounced, composed of a core, a shell made up of radially-movablesections free to be thrown outward by contrifu gal force generated byrotation, and springs for automatically contracting saidholder after itsexpansion.

5. A holder for holding a hat while it is being pounced, comprising ashell composed of sections having internal ribs, a core having a bore toreceive a shaft which carries the holder, and longitudinal grooves a toreceive the ribs on the sections of the shell, wedges arranged in saidgrooves a and under the ribs on the sections of the shell, and springsto hold said sections up elastically to said wedges, all arrangedsubstantially as set forth.

6. The combination of the core A, provided with longitudinal radialgrooves a, the sections of the shell, each provided with a rib on itsinner face to engage a groove, a, in the core, and said ribs havingbeveled inner edges, the wedges arranged in the grooves a of the coreunder the beveled edges of the ribs, the springsj and 71, of ring-likeform, arranged to clamp the sections together elastically, the I videdwith a rib to fit in a groove, a, of the shaft secured in the core, andthe collar D, core, and a pin or stud, c, to engage the groove mountedto slide on the shaft and coupled to a in the core, substantially as setforth.

the expanding wedges, substantially as set In witness whereof I havehereunto signed 5 forth. a my name in the presence of twosubscribing 157. lhe combination, with the core A, prowitnesses. vided with/the radialgrooves a, and the cir- ANDREW CAMPBELL. cumferential groove of, of theshell, made up Witnesses: of sections and having the, exterior contourof HENRY CONNETT, [o a hat-body, and each sectionof the shell pro- FRANKMOULIN.

